Jenn's Review: Shades of Atlantis

Summary:  Since the death of their parents, Triona Pryor and her brother, Ben, have lived with their aunt and uncle in Camden, Maine. Now in her senior year of high school, Triona loves her family and friends, but she has always felt that she didn’t quite fit in…in Camden, or anywhere else.

Enter Caleb Wallace, the devilishly handsome man who has recently moved to Triona’s small town. While their attraction to each other is instantaneous, it also proves to be dangerous…and deadly.

When tragedy strikes, Triona flees to London for solace and to start her life anew. It’s there she discovers from an unlikely source that her family has been keeping secrets from her – secrets about not only her birthright, but her ultimate destiny as well. Armed with this knowledge, Triona finds herself thrown into a whole new world and into a battle to save the lives of everyone she loves.

Review:  Shades of Atlantis has shades of brilliance.  Carol Oates has created a compelling magical world which I entered too briefly and left too soon.  It left me lost in contemplation.

The story is entrancing and although it has several parallels to a recently popular series, it's differences more than make up for it. I love the romance between Triona & Caleb, though several times I wanted to shake her for being so blind.  I especially love the way she has Amanda describe destiny to Triona -very Sliding Doors.  Her characters are complex and rich and I feel like there is so much more to discover about them that the surface has barely been scratched.

Actually, that is my overall sense of the book. My biggest complaint is that I thirsted for more. There is a pretty significant natural break in the story and I would have happily seen this broken into two novels, just to have things fleshed out further -not that the story felt rushed or incomplete, just that when Oates does take the time to go into details, they are so magnificent!  Had she done that throughout the story there would have been more than enough material for two books...

There is one slight inconsistency in the story that nags at me a little. It wasn't anything important, but as it came at the pinnacle of the climax, it made it highly memorable. Then when it resurfaces later and the pretext is different, it jarred me a little.

All in all, I truly enjoyed this story. I can't wait to read more from Carol Oates in the future.

Final Take:  4.0/5


Thanks to Omnific Publishing, Carol Oates, & Julie at A Tale of Many Reviews for bringing Girls Just Reading this blog tour & giveaway.

About the Author:

Carol Oates has never been one to remain still for long. After her parents' mad dash to the hospital through the empty city streets of Dublin, Ireland, Carol made her debut into the world in the early hours of Christmas morning. Since then her pace has not slowed down in the least.


Carol was introduced to the world of supernatural books when, as a child, her family moved to a coastal suburb on the northern border of Dublin known as Clontarf, famous as the birthplace of Bram Stoker, the prolific author responsible for breathing life into the legendary story Dracula. This stirred in Carol an early passion for reading about all things supernatural. Combine that passion with a deep interest in the history and folklore of Ireland, as well as an active and vivid imagination, and Carol Oates the author was born. Carol's love of writing about anything not entirely "human" emerged, and the premise for her debut novel, Shades of Atlantis, was born.


Carol still lives in Dublin, but spends a great deal of time traveling though the counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland with her partner and son. When not travelling through the countryside, Carol spends her days at the office and her evenings immersed in the world of Legends and Mythical Creatures.


Author Website: http://caroloates.com/
Author on Twitter: @CarolOates

Where you can buy the book: